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| A member congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America | ||
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April Christ is on the loose! That is what Easter proclaims. Christ is on the loose! At least that’s what the Gospel of Mark proclaims. Actually, Mark gives a rather strange account of the resurrection of Jesus. The other gospel writers give us a neat, tidy ending to the story complete with Jesus appearing to the disciples, laying out a clear program for action, even ascending to heaven. But not Mark. Mark ends his account in the middle of a sentence. No period, no neat and tidy ending, no ending at all. The early church was so uncomfortable with this that they added an ending. But I like Mark’s account the way he left it. Because one thing he was saying is that this is a story that doesn’t end. Not only was death not the end of the story, but the resurrection itself was not even the end of it. Not only was Christ not confined to a tomb, but he cannot be confined to the past, either, or within a gospel, within the Bible, in an hour on a Sunday morning, not even in heaven. In other words, Christ is on the loose - even now on the loose. Christ is to be found not simply in the past nor someday in the future, but in the present, in our day-to-day lives, in the world, going ahead of us each day. So there’s no ending to the story. It is a story meant to continue - continue through us. Christ lives, the story proclaims, and as we look for Christ each day, seek to follow him, believe in him, the story goes on: Christ lives in and through us. And to me, that is the good news - the great news - of Easter.
As I have mentioned before, life after death is not a problem for me. Life before death is the problem! But to say that Christ is on the loose is to say that there is just no telling where or how Christ will easter up again and again to heal us, strengthen us, raise up out of all that is wrecked and ruined and put new life into us. To say that Christ is on the loose is to say that he is there in the tangledness and messiness of things, the deep hurts and losses, the fears and confusion, wanting to lead us unto life. And it is also to say that he is there calling us out of ourselves, out of self-absorption and comfortable ruts, calling us to love, wanting to bring us alive like never before. So not only on an Easter morning, but each and every morning, we can lift up our hearts and rejoice. Because Christ lives! Christ is on the loose! And as we trust and allow Christ to live in and through us, the story will come out as joy, great joy!
God be with you, Jeff
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